Decoys - The Faces Of

Sean "Pocket" Dale is an amazing artist. Last week I contacted him about doing some concept sketches for Decoys' Spy Cards and this week he had six characters ready, one for each piece in the game. I sat down with him for a few hours to try and flesh them out and he really impressed me with how quickly and easily he could bring our ideas to life. I've been drawing my entire life, but I'm still not talented like that. I'm not too familiar with the traditional artistic process, so maybe my praise is a bit overstated, but still, watching an artist in flow is awe-inspiring.

So, what exactly are Spy Cards and why did Pocket draw them?


Well, originally, a match of Decoys started with players choosing a piece to be their Spy and choosing a shape to be their objective type. Playtesting revealed that choice to be boring and pointless - more of a final hurdle between players and the game than anything else - because it had almost no effect on the game proper (with the exception of repeat matches with players who knew the tendencies of their particular opponent). So I dropped the choice and replaced it with randomly dealt Spy and Objective cards. These cards determine which piece will be a player's Spy and what shape will be their Objective Type.

My hope is that having characters will make it more enticing to potential players and more endearing to current fans. Giving a face to the game will make it more friendly and inviting - as opposed to the current state of the board/cards, which are rather boring to look at. With a severe lack of feedback, I'm hoping that adding dramatic elements to the game will get more people interested in trying it, which hopefully will mean more feedback.

Anyway, I'm going to post the 6 different concept sketches we came up with. Notice the distinct difference in style - one team of 3 has a military-esque theme, while the other 3 are more casual.

Keep in mind that these aren't final, only concept sketches. We're wide open to suggestions/criticism/comments so if you have an idea please LET ME KNOW!!! And while you're at it, why not play the damn game too?!